I have a 9 month old (as of today!) GSD who is becoming extremely difficult to potty train!

A little backstory::
We adopted her at 6 weeks old from the humane society. At 7 weeks old, she became sick with Parvovirus- she had a 3 day turnaround and was back to being a healthy pup. A few months ago, she had a yeast infection which caused her to potty EVERYWHERE, all the time! We got her on antibiotics and it cleared up.

She is crate trained and does not mess in her kennel. As far as showing signs to potty, she shows none. She just squats and pees! It's very frustrating because I take her out right after or a few minutes after she gets a drink/eats food, and we stay out there for up to 15 minutes, if she doesn't go, we'll come back in, and as soon as we come in, she potties on the floor!

Leash the dog to you. Reduce her space. She only comes back in after you witness her pottying outside - if you didn't witness it, place her back in her crate. She can't be loose in the house until you witness her pottying outside.

Gates up and/or leash her to you so you can watch constantly. If she starts pottying on the floor - which you'll see since she's right in your line of vision OR leashed to you, you say "AHH AHH!" and rush outside - this can be done in an "Oh, OOOPS, it's okay, we'll get you to the right spot" manner rather than "Oh crap here we go again".

Once you reach outside and she finishes out there, she's a hero, a superstar! You're so HAPPY!
Avoid punishing her at all for potty accidents.

How so didn't it work? It will work because she has no freedom in the house until she's gone outside.
Even if it takes all day Take her out every hour or so, witness her potty outside, if she didn't go, it's back in the crate.
She'll get the idea sooner or later!

Especially, romp around and all with her, until she can't help but "go" potty outside!

Well, with the crate- she would whine and whine, and I would go to take her out and I'd grab her leash to put it on, and she'd take a step out and pee. Lol. so, we had her checked for all kinds of things bladder wise and everything has come back clear and good.

I'd grab her leash to put it on, and she'd take a step out and pee. Lol.

Thats your problem right there, Dont give her the chance to pee inside, hold her collar and take her straight outside, if she starts going say "AHH AHH!!" if this turns out to still be a challenge, position her crate closer to the door, and have the door open so that it can be done quicker than the time it takes her to pee.

Make sure she gets plenty of treats and praise for going outside.

Your puppy has been unfortunate with illness and as such, has learned that her toilet is inside the house. Now that she is healthy, she needs to learn that this is NOT ok and that her toilet is outside. remember although it may seem like she is doing this on purpose, she really isnt, she has simply been taught that her toilet is inside.

Its a tough road, and the health set backs have been extremely unfortunate, but if you want a toilet trained adult dog, you need to put the time in now. The fact that she wont deficate her crate, gives you an advantage straight away, in that you have a place to put her when she is due for a toilet break.

To speed up her toilet requirements, take her on a LONG walk, so she is really thirsty, and make sure she drinks a **** of a lot when you get back, put her straight in her cage and wait 30 minutes (since she is 9 months, she should be able to hold it well by now), take her straight outside, dont give her a chance to toilet inside, praise/reward and let her play inside for a bit. This teaches her that good things happen, when she goes to the toilet outside.

Mine did not give me any signs that she had to go for a long time I thought that she had no control of her bladder because she would just start peeing and it was a lot of pee. I had to restart the process of potty training. I made a schedule and never let her out of my sight. Once she got it I haven't had any problems with her. She physically paws me once if she had to pee and both paws are used if she has to poop...as she is pawing me she talks to me too. I never taught her this, she just decided this was the way she would let me know she has to go. I don't care how she decided to do it, I'm just glad that she did.

and I would go to take her out and I'd grab her leash to put it on, and she'd take a step out and pee.

Yep. Either carry her if you can manage it, or set the crate RIGHT BY the door.
We always advise owners to carry pet to the outdoors, if it's small enough. If not, keep the dog leashed and right by the door, so you can grab the leash and direct the dog so it's first steps are to the outdoors.

I honestly can't think of too many puppies that have to "go" urgently, who'll make it even 5-10 steps without going as soon as they are out of their crate.

In fact one of ours has spinal issues and she can't make it all the way to the door and she's coming up on 3yrs. old (Dachshund). By the time she reaches it, poo is usually coming out. We tore out our carpets for this specific reason.

With young puppies I'll sometimes pick them up and carry them, but obviously that's not an option with a 9 month old! What I also do is put the leash right on top of the crate at night, and when I open the crate door I reach in and attach it before the pup steps out, and then we RUN to the door. Don't give her a chance to step outside the crate and pee and don't give her the opportunity to stop and squat along the way.

And as msvette said, always have her right with you, and leashed to you is best. If you can't catch her before she starts to pee at least you can interrupt her and get her outside to finish if she's never out of your sight or reach. When she does potty outdoors make a huge deal about it, and give her a yummy treat. Every single time.

__________________

-Debbie-

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I never caught Link's "signals", I just interrupted him mid pee with a loud "Hey! No!" And immediately rushed him to where I wanted him to go. Which at the time was a pee pad. If he went there he got a treat. Within 4 days he would go to the pee pad to pee. But only it was in the same room.

Link wasn't crate trained - though I wanted him to be so I had done a lot of research on it. That being said, I remember reading that you could crate the dog, then let him/her out but go STRAIGHT outside and if he/she did go you praise/treat. If not, then back to the crate

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Security Question

While balancing on a piece of wood, two inches by four inches known as a 2x4, john and his friend sally both spotted a dalmatian inside a truck with sirens, headed to put out a fire. State what the 2x4 is made of.

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.